It's been a torrid start to the summer for the Goose Creek Post 166 American Legion baseball team.The squad improved to 5-1 on the season with a 7-1 league victory over West Ashley on Monday night at GCHS.Cody Smith (3-0) gave up just two hits, striking out six and walking four batters for Goose Creek (2-0 in league play). He allowed just a leadoff hit in the first inning and another single in the fourth inning over his seven-plus innings of work.“He got after the hitters,” Post 166 coach Dave Holt said. “He kept his pitch count down. His walks were a little high but we're going to work on that.”Part of that is relying on his fastball more, Holt added.“He's not a finesse pitcher but sometimes he throws like a finesse pitcher,” he said. “We want him to use his fastball more. We don't want him to go overboard with his offspeed stuff when his fastball is good enough to overpower hitters.”Smith also had an RBI double at the plate. It was one of six hits for Post 166, which was set to play at Beaufort on Tuesday before hosting Hilton Head on Thursday.Tyler Rio was the only Post 166 player with multiple hits, going 2 for 4 with an RBI double.Rio's double down the line scored Taylor Morrison in the bottom of the first and Rio later scored on Austin Timm's sacrifice fly to give Smith all the run support he needed.The score stayed 2-0 until Christian Sillanpaa provided a baseball moment not seen often in the bottom of the seventh. He scorched a line drive to left field and it zipped by the fielder to the fence, and Sillanpaa raced around for an inside-the-park homer that also scored Davon Higgins.Rio then added an RBI single in the at-bat to give Post 166 a 5-0 lead.West Ashley cut the lead to 5-1 with an unearned run in the top of the eighth but Rio recorded a strikeout to end a bases-loaded situation.Smith's RBI double to deep left in the eighth made it 6-1 and he later scored on an error for the final margin of victory.Chris Zurcher struck out the side in the ninth to finish up for Post 166.The game on Thursday against Hilton Head is a rematch of the season-opener on May 20 at Hilton Head. Post 166 won that one 10-8.Monday's win over West Ashley comes on the heels of a 3-1 showing in winning the Memorial Day tournament in Florence. All of those games were slated for seven innings.Post 166 defeated Camden 8-6 in the eighth inning, lost to Manning 6-3, beat Georgetown 12-8 before taking out Florence 9-7 in the championship game.In the final, Austin Timm, Davon Higgins and Taylor Morrison had two hits apiece. Timm and Higgins each had home runs.Wimmer was the winning pitcher and Timm recorded the save. Wimmer threw five innings, scattering seven hits and striking out four.Timm worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth, getting a double play and strikeout to keep Florence off the board.He struck out two and gave up one hit in his two innings of work.“We had a really good weekend,” Holt said. “We swung the bats really well most of the weekend. I was happy to see some hitters step up. It seemed like every night it was somebody different.”Against Georgetown, Cody Maw tossed six innings, scattering eight hits and striking out six. Rio was 4 for 5, while Sean Freeland, Cody Jones and Timm added two hits apiece in the 15-hit onslaught.In the loss to Manning, Post 166 only collected four hits. Rio had a no-decision, giving up one run and three hits and striking out six batters. Freeland took the loss in relief.Against Camden, Taylor Morrison had two hits and four RBIs, including the two-run single that won the game 8-6 in the eighth inning.Smith added two hits and got the win on the mound in relief of Timm. Timm only gave up one earned run and struck out six over his five innings of work.

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